I am Mohamed Youssef, a high school student at STEM High School for Boys - 6th of October and the president of October Math Community Circle (OMCC).

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OctoberMathCommunityCircle

linkedIn: https://eg.linkedin.com/company/october-math-community-circle 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579737463401 (don't use the old email. it is suspended and we are trying to get it back)

I have always believed that Egypt can once again become a global beacon of education and scientific excellence. We are one of the oldest civilizations in the world. Yet today, the infrastructure for identifying and nurturing exceptional academic talent in Egypt is critically weak.

Outside of informatics, most scientific Olympiads have either disappeared or become symbolic. There are no structured national talent pipelines, no systematic scouting, and no serious long-term mentorship programs for mathematically and scientifically gifted students. What exists is largely ceremonial activity without sustained development.

Over the past several months, I decided to act.

What We Have Built So Far

1. Rebuilding National Olympiads (Volunteer-Based, Zero Local Cost)

Through OMCC, we assembled a network of university professors and researchers in:

• Mathematics
• Physics
• (Currently completing teams for Biology and Chemistry)

All trainers and organizers are volunteers. No one is paid. Operational cost inside Egypt: $0.

We have already secured Egypt’s re-registration or participation pathways in:

• International Physics Olympiad
• Balkan Mathematical Olympiad
• African Mathematical Olympiad
• Arab Mathematical Olympiad

We are close to finalizing registration for the remaining international competitions to fully reactivate the national system.

Next month, after a long period of open nationwide training sessions, we will run the Egyptian Mathematics Olympiad again. The competition will take place at the American University in Cairo.

This is the first time in years that a structured, academically serious national math olympiad pathway is being rebuilt in this way.

2. High-Impact Career Direction

We have also contacted the leadership of 80,000 Hours to explore collaboration.

The vision:

• Students identified through our pipeline will not only receive olympiad training.
• They will also be guided toward high-impact career paths.
• The focus is maximizing long-term global impact, not just academic prestige.

We are awaiting their response as well.

3. Research Partnerships

We have reached out to Pioneer Academics to explore the creation of an Egyptian research pathway for advanced high school students.

We are currently waiting for their reply.

4. Future Expansion

• If the Egyptian model succeeds, we have connections to replicate it in other countries.
• Long-term goal: scalable, low-cost, high-talent identification systems across developing regions.

The Funding Bottleneck

Locally, operations cost nothing.

However, international participation requires:

• Registration fees
• Travel expenses
• Accommodation

The total cost for full current operation (including international competitions) is under $50,000.

Even with expanded participation, the required funding will remain modest relative to the potential long-term impact.

Egypt has 110 million people. The number of highly gifted students is significant. Without intervention, most of this talent is lost to structural inefficiencies.

This is a leverage opportunity:

• Extremely low operational cost.
• High expected value.
• Large talent base.
• Replicable model.

Institutional Resistance

We have faced substantial bureaucratic and security-based restrictions from the Ministry of Education. No material support has been provided. Administrative procedures have been used to limit movement and recognition.

Despite this, the system is now operational.

Everything achieved so far has been built through volunteer effort and persistence.

Why This Matters for Effective Altruism

From an EA lens:

• Talent development in low- and middle-income countries is underfunded.
• The cost per high-potential student is dramatically lower than in Western systems.
• Early-stage intervention compounds over decades.
• Scientific leadership influences policy, innovation, and global problem solving.

If even a small fraction of these students enter high-impact fields AI safety, biosecurity, theoretical science, global health, governance the expected long-term return is substantial.

We are not asking for indefinite funding.

We are asking for catalytic support to stabilize and scale a system that already exists.

Contact

If you are interested in funding, advising, or connecting us to aligned organizations:

octobermathcommunitycircle@proton.me

Egypt has the population.
The talent exists.
The infrastructure is what is missing.

We are building it.